English Reference

Word

bleached

US/ˈbɫitʃt/

UK/blˈiːtʃt/

Definition

adj. made very white or much lighter in color by using chemicals or by being left in the sun.

adj. having been whitened or lightened in color through chemical treatment or exposure to sunlight. Often used as a participial adjective to describe hair, fabric, or bone.

Examples

“She has bright bleached hair.”

“The old wooden fence had a bleached appearance after years of standing in the desert sun.”

“Environmentalists expressed concern over the bleached coral reefs, which serve as a stark visual indicator of rising ocean temperatures and ecological stress.”

Examples

simple

“She has bright bleached hair.”

contextual

“The old wooden fence had a bleached appearance after years of standing in the desert sun.”

complex

“Environmentalists expressed concern over the bleached coral reefs, which serve as a stark visual indicator of rising ocean temperatures and ecological stress.”

Usage

Often follows a linking verb like 'look' or 'become', or appears directly before the noun it modifies.

Real-World Examples

“In 2016, 2022 and 2023, years marked by particularly high seawater temperatures, corals became diseased or bleached for the first time.”
Phys.org · 11 Sept 2026
“They have their backs to us, and we can’t see their destination beyond a bleached sky that fills the top half of the screen.”
The Guardian · 4 Sept 2026

This entry

Level
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Occasional
Updated

Scan code

englishreference.com/q/bleached

English Reference